The Capital District, also known as the Capital Region, is the metropolitan area surrounding Albany, the capital of the U.S. state of New York. With an estimated 915,835 residents as of the 2025 US Census estimate, the Capital District is the 4th largest metropolitan area in New York State, and the fastest-growing region in Upstate New York.
The Capital District was first settled by the Dutch in the early 17th century and came under English control in 1664. Albany was the first city to be established in New York State, and has been the permanent capital of the state of New York since 1797. The Capital District is notable for many historical events that predate the independence of the United States, including the Albany Plan of Union and the Battles of Saratoga. Since 2020, the economy of Albany and the surrounding Capital District has been directed toward artificial intelligence, AI-based photonics, quantum computing hardware manufacturing, nanotechnology, and digital electronics.
Etymology The earliest known reference to the name "Capital District" stems from a Capital Police District that was created in the Albany area in the late 1860s, and was eventually reinforced by the central role played by Albany in both the region and in New York State.
In the 1910s, several economic and government organizations covering the area used "Capital District" in their name, such as the Capital District Conference of Charities and Corrections in 1913, the Capital District Life Underwriters Association also in 1913, and the Capital District Recreation League. The Capital District Recreation League, formed in 1916, proposed to create a Capital District Park in the area of the Shaker settlement.
Nicknames Capitaland, Metroland, the Tri-City Area, and Tech Valley are nicknames sometimes used to refer to the Capital District. The region is often also called the 518 after the telephone area code that serves the Capital District.
The Capital District is a part of the area marketed under the name "Tech Valley" in recognition of the technology companies that have relocated to the region. The 19-county Tech Valley region, which extends from the Canada–US border south to Orange County, is marketed by organizations such as the Tech Valley Chamber Coalition, the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Albany-based Center for Economic Growth. In 2011, New York launched a Regional Council initiative under which the "Capital Region" became the state's official name for the eleven-county region consisting of 1.1 million people in Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren and Washington counties.
History
First settlements
Permanent European claims and settlement began in 1609, when Henry Hudson sailed north up the Hudson River in the name of the Dutch. During the same year, Samuel Champlain explored south down Lake Champlain and Lake George in the name of France. Conflict soon ensued between the French and Dutch for control of the fur trade and both made alliances with different Native American tribes. In 1630, Kiliaen van Rensselaer founded the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, a Dutch patroonship in the area, which encompassed much of the area that is now the Capital District. In 1664, the English successfully conquered the Dutch while rivalry with the French continued. The Dutch, and then the English, maintained focus on settlement and farming while the French incursion into this area was limited to hunting for furs, trading with the natives, and building a few forts. Conflict arose when the French-built Fort Carillon and the British-built Fort William Henry near each other, both in order to control the route between the Hudson River Valley and the Champlain Valley.
Through the Dongan Charter, Governor Thomas Dongan granted Albany the right to purchase in "Schaahtecogue" (today Schaghticoke, in Rensselaer County) and at "Tionnondoroge" (today Fort Hunter, in Montgomery County). Arent van Curler founded Schenectady in 1662; Fort Saratoga was built at present-day Schuylerville in 1691; and Greenbush (present-day city of Rensselaer) was settled in the 1620s. South of Albany, settlement occurred quickly at first, but slowed as growth on the frontier pushed people north and west of Albany and left the southern reaches of the Capital District behind. Hudson, in Columbia County, was purchased from the natives in 1662 by Dutch farmers and speculators but did not see actual settlement and growth until 1783 when New Englanders, mainly from southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, arrived; it was chartered as a city in 1785, becoming only the third city in the State of New York.
The French and Indian War saw several major battles in the Capital District, including at the aforementioned forts. In the end, the French were defeated, freeing the land for further settlement to the west and north of Albany. During the American Revolution the area again saw fighting and Fort Ticonderoga experienced notable action. The Battle of Saratoga, which took place in the present-day town of Stillwater, is considered the turning point of the war. In 1776, General Philip Schuyler built a small fleet of ships at Whitehall. They were used by Benedict Arnold in the Battle of Valcour Island. The event led to Whitehall's modern-day claim to be the birthplace of the United States Navy.
After the Revolution, settlements continued to proliferate west and north of the Albany area. North of Albany, along the river, settlements grew quickly: Waterford (oldest continuously incorporated village in the US, incorporated in 1794), Troy (settled in 1787, chartered as a village 1801, city in 1816), Lansingburgh (a village in 1763, annexed to Troy in 1900), and Watervliet (settled in 1643 and incorporated as a village in 1836 as West Troy, city in 1897). West from Schenectady, land purchases in the 1750s led to settlements at Fonda and Fultonville in Montgomery County, but land purchases elsewhere, such as at Gloversville in Fulton County did not see settlement until the end of the 18th century when the Iroquois threat had been eliminated by the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, which came as retaliation for the Cherry Valley Massacre in nearby Otsego County.
Creation of the counties
The entire area of the Capital District was within the original boundaries of Albany County as established by the Province of New York on November 1, 1683; it was one of the original 12 counties.The other eleven original counties being New York, Suffolk, Kings, Queens, Richmond, Westchester, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Cornwall (the current state of Maine) and Dukes (Martha's Vineyard and other islands). See here In 1772, Charlotte County and Tryon County were both formed from parts of Albany County. Charlotte County was renamed Washington County in 1784, and from part of that, Warren County was created in 1813. Tryon County was renamed Montgomery County in 1784, and from part of that, Fulton County was created in 1838. Tryon County was large: it encompassed the lands from five miles (8 km) west of Schenectady to the western indeterminate boundary of the Province of New York.
What remained of Albany County in 1774 became the most populated county in the state with a population of 42,921 and it continued to be the most populous county until at least 1790, when the population was 75,921. Albany lost population as new counties were created from within: Columbia County was created in 1786; Rensselaer and Saratoga counties were formed in 1791; Schoharie County was created in 1795 from parts of both Albany and Otsego counties (Otsego having been created from part of Montgomery County in 1791); Greene County was formed in 1800 from parts of both Albany and Ulster counties; Schenectady County was created in 1809; and Warren County was formed in 1813 from Washington County. Fulton County was the last county in the Capital District to be formed. A graphical representation of the county breakup timeline can be seen below.
Urbanization and transportation
The Champlain and Erie canals were opened in 1823, and 1825, respectively. Their completion connected the area to the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, leading to a large influx in industrialization and immigration. Shortly after the completion of the canals, in 1831, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company (M&H) built the Albany and Schenectady Railroad between those two cities. This was the first railway in the state. Railroads, like the plank/post roads and canals before them, made Albany an even more important transportation hub. In 1853 Erastus Corning consolidated 10 railroads stretching from Albany to Buffalo as the New York Central Railroad, headquartered in Albany until Cornelius Vanderbilt took over in 1867 and moved the company to New York City.
Industry consequently became prominent in the area. Gloversville was labeled the "headquarters of the glove and mitten industry" and became the preeminent glove-manufacturing and leather-working region in New York. Cohoes became known as the "Spindle City" for its large cotton mills, due mainly to Harmony Mills, the largest cotton mill complex in the world when it opened in 1872. Troy became famous for its iron works due to Burden Iron Works, though later Troy would earn the nickname of "Collar City" due to Cluett, Peabody & Co., which made Arrow brand shirts at the largest collar, cuff, and shirt factory in the world at the time. In 1887 Thomas Edison moved his Edison Machine Works to Schenectady, and in 1892 Schenectady became the headquarters of the General Electric Company (GE). Schenectady Locomotive Works, along with seven other locomotive manufacturers, merged in 1901 and the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) was formed and headquartered in Schenectady. Due to the dominance of GE and ALCO in their respective industries, Schenectady would gain the nicknames of "Electric City" and "The City that Lights and Hauls the World". The nature of this industry lent itself to the creation of many labor-saving inventions, such as the horseshoe machine of Henry Burden, the pre-shrinking fabric machines of Sanford Cluett, the power knitting loom of Timothy Bailey, the railroad air-brake of George Westinghouse, and the hundreds of electricity-related improvements of General Electric Company scientists.
Rise of the suburbs and urban decline and renewal Starting with the 1980 United States census, Albany posted a decline in population until the 2000 U.S. census. Meanwhile, the suburbs saw an influx in population and grew at the expense of the city of Albany. There were many causes to this, including the building of interstates and other highways allowing for more commuting, lack of available suitable land within the urban centers, and the subsequent location of shopping centers following the people to the suburbs.
The decline of exporting from the United States contributed to a general decline as well. Watervliet, Cohoes, and especially Troy lost a competitive edge that came with being at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers: the location no longer meant better access to markets, waterfalls no longer made the cheapest power, and cheap labor in the southern and western parts of the nation became important to companies. General Electric moved part of their headquarters to Connecticut from Schenectady in the mid-1980s. Within the Capital District focus shifted to the suburbs. The suburbs had large open spaces for office parks and homes while the cities were constrained in available land. Albany International, with their headquarters and factory straddling the Menands and Albany border, built a new headquarters in 1987 in suburban East Greenbush, as did Garden Way, headquartered in Troy. The region's first technology park was built in the 1980s in North Greenbush by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).